US-Mexico Border

Projects

Alternative Energy - San Diego Smart Energy 2020 (2007-2012)

Beginning in 2007, E-Tech’s Chief Engineer Bill Powers began devising practical alternatives to the oil-gas-coal energy projects that are used in the US-Mexico border area. In the long term, Bill seeks to help develop low-carbon energy strategies based on regional and national domestic needs. The first area examined was close to home: the San Diego-Tijuana region.

Potential impacts of a liquid natural gas plant/pipeline and refinery on the US-Mexico border (2005).

In 2005, Proyecto Fronterizo de Educacion Ambiental in Tijuana and the Red Fronteriza de Salud y Ambiente in Hermosillo requested that E-Tech conduct an overview of proposals to create a large liquid natural gas terminal in either Puerto Libertad, Sonora, on the Gulf of California or on the coast of Baja. Concurrently, plans were moving to potentially ship large amounts of refinery residues (combustoleo) from the Gulf of California area by pipe to a refinery near Yuma, Arizona. The overview highlighted the mechanics involved in creating both projects and examined potential hazards that require further in-depth study. Neither project has advanced as of 2014, although the reports catalyzed subsequent environmental analysis by researchers at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur.